Rediscovered Rodent

The red-crested tree rat was thought to be extinct but was recently rediscovered after 113 years of not being seen! Researchers have been trying to find this animal, when it simply showed up at a nature reserve. They live in Columbia, South America, and are about the size of a guinea pig.

The below photographs are a couple of the first pictures ever taken of the animal:

Pictures from Animal Planet.

I love the long fuzzy tail!

To read the story of their rediscovery see Conservation International.

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Baby Okapi

A female Okapi calf, currently unnamed, was born at the Brookfield Zoo:

Pictures from The Daily What

Okapi come from the rain forest in Central Africa. They are the only living relative of the giraffe, even though they have zebra like stripes. Like a giraffe they have long, dark, prehensile tongues. They have very acute hearing and are very wary of humans. The species was not discovered by scientists until the 1900s because of the okapi’s ability to avoid humans. While not endangered, it is only believed that around 25,000 okapis currently live in the wild.

The San Diego Zoo has more information in their article about the Okapi.

Picture from Eli Greenbaum

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White Kiwi

A rare white Kiwi chick hatched just three days ago in Wellington, New Zealand. His name is Manukura, and he is believed to be the first white kiwi born in captivity.

The chick is so cute!

To see a couple more pictures, see Yahoo News.

I love Kiwis to begin with, and the white feathers make this little guy even more adorable. I have been lucky enough to go to New Zealand and see a couple of them running around, but it is hard to get good pictures because they are nocturnal. So please enjoy this much better pictures taken by others:

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Kung Fu Panda 2

The summer movie season is now in full swing, which means that Kung Fu Panda 2 will be out in theatres this weekend!

I really enjoyed the first movie and hope that this movie will live up to my expectations. I have heard some basic early reviews and it seems like it should be good. Of the summer movies so far this one should be entertaining for the whole family. I will be seeing it this weekend sometime, and I can report back after that.

Kung Fu Panda 2 is rated PG, and has a running time of 90 minutes. To find out more about the movie see IMDB.

Here is a trailer:

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Preakness Stakes

I have been very busy, so sorry for not posting much recently.

Saturday was the 136th Preakness Stakes! Unfortunately, Animal Kingdom lost so there will not be a triple crown this year. He was rather untested though, having run only 4 races before entering the Kentucky Derby and having never raced on dirt before. Had he run more races then maybe it would have been understood how much time he needed to make up for how far behind he was.

Shackleford was the winner!

The Belmont Stakes is still to come!

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Enchanted Tiki Room

I love Disney World, and one of my favorite attractions as a child was the Tiki Room – called at the time Tropical Serenade. It had a lot of history, being open since the park opened in 1971. It was based on the Disney Land attration The Enchanted Tiki Room, fro 1963. It took Disney 10 years to be able to create the show and it was the first attration to feature audio-anamatronic figures.

Unfortunately, in 1998 Disney felt that the ride was outdated and needed to have actual characters added to it. The Enchanted Tiki Room (under new management) was okay, but the show lost a lot of interest to me.  Iago (from Alladin) and Zazu (from the Lion King) simply appear and interupt the whole thing, with the most entertaining part being what was actually left over/inspired by the tiki room’s original occupants.

Last year the Enchanted Tiki Room (under new management) caught on fire, which was contained to the attic area of the attraction but which closed the show completely. Come to find out the most damage apparently happened to the new anamatronics added to the show. Disney is now re-imagining the attraction, and it will feature a show akin to the original! I do not know if this means the new birds are completely gone, but I am very excited to see the new show which will open later this summer. The attraction will now simply be called The Enchanted Tiki Room.

To read more see the Disney Blog.

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Kentucky Derby 2011

Do not forget to watch the 2011 Kentucky Derby today!

I will update the post with the winner and pictures after the race!

To see more now, visit kentuckyderby.com.

Quick Update:

And the winner is Animal Kingdom!

Animal Kingdom was not a favorite to win with 20-1 odds.

Second place was Nehro, and third was Mucho Macho Man.

Archarcharch also suffered a fracture during the race, but it is not life threatening.

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BarkNetwork

I learned about BarkNetwork.com today while watching the Show Dog Championship, sponsored by ProPlan.

The BarkNetwork is the worldwide home for Athletic Dogs, where you can find out about dog sports, teach your dog tricks, find local dog organizations to join, events, and more. It is a social network as well, so you can talk with other dog lovers and get tips or advice. You can also see pictures and watch videos.

So if you have any interest in dog athletics, I would suggest joining this network to learn more and find events and organizations in your area.

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The Royal Wedding

Did anyone get up early to watch the Royal Wedding live? I did, and it was beautiful!

I just love the horses and carriages:

During the procesion of carriages – around the beginning when the cameras focused on the Prince and his new bride I thought I saw a riderless black horse running down the side of the road. Indeed, it was a riderless horse:

Picture from ABC news

Moreover, the Royal Wedding will help benefit endangered animals!

Instead of receiving wedding presents the couple asked that donations be made to different charities, one of them is the Zoological Society of London. The Zoological Society does work to save black rhinos in Kenya and elephants in Thailand. I am glad that the royal wedding is helping animals too.

To read more, see Global Animal.

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